Noon 的 10 亿美元海湾电商豪赌：阿拉巴尔和沙特 PIF 对亚马逊发起挑战——并存活下来

做的是什么生意

An Arabic-first e-commerce marketplace selling electronics, fashion, homeware and grocery across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf.

启动资金：$1B — 50% from Saudi Arabia's PIF, the rest from Alabbar and dozens of Gulf investors

起因

In November 2016, Emaar Properties chairman Mohamed Alabbar and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund announced Noon with $1 billion, saying online sales should grow from 2% of Gulf retail ($3B) to 15% ($70B) within ten years. The announcement came after Amazon beat Alabbar's late bid for Souq.com, the region's leading marketplace.

经过

Noon planned to launch in January 2017 but went live in the UAE only on September 30, 2017 — months after Amazon closed its $580M purchase of Souq — and entered Saudi Arabia in December. It hired Namshi co-founder Faraz Khalid as CEO, signed Kuwait's MH Alshaya as a partner, and built a Dubai warehouse the size of 60 football pitches.

结果

Still running and expanding: Noon outlasted its late, expensive start, became one of the Gulf's largest e-commerce platforms, spread across the region and into Egypt, and added logistics and payments — while Alabbar called the venture 'the biggest risk in my life.'

可借鉴之处

钱能买到入场券，但买不到时机：Noon 的 10 亿美元只让它进入了一个亚马逊已经占据的市场；生存下来靠的是本地优先战略和足够的资金来熬过自己九个月的延期。